Installing Debian on modern hardware

Posted Jan 21, 2021 1:46 UTC (Thu) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418)
Parent article: Installing Debian on modern hardware

I think a big improvement would be that installing nonfree software should include an explanation that the user is giving up some freedom and what that means, as in https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/install-fest-devil.en.html . It should also require some explicit action on the user's part, last I checked a few years ago, the installer already did that.

I think a separate repo for non-cpu firmware is a good idea, but I'd also limit it to firmware significantly hampers installing the OS itself. For example, if some firmware just enables 3d acceleration of a graphics card, keep it it the general nonfree repo.

Installing Debian on modern hardware

Posted Jan 21, 2021 16:16 UTC (Thu) by sandsmark (guest, #62172) [Link] (3 responses)

> I think a separate repo for non-cpu firmware is a good idea, but I'd also limit it to firmware significantly hampers installing the OS itself. For example, if some firmware just enables 3d acceleration of a graphics card, keep it it the general nonfree repo.

Why is CPU firmware, of all things, okay? Or do you mean CPU firmware should not be distributed at all?

And limiting the types of firmware will just decrease the perceived quality of Debian, the user won't blame the hardware for a lack of 3D acceleration (and no users read popups or dialogs, in case you were thinking about showing an explanation before, during or after installation).

Installing Debian on modern hardware

Posted Jan 21, 2021 21:14 UTC (Thu) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link]

Sorry for the confusion, I meant nonfree firmware which does not run on the cpu could be in its own repo. Nonfree firmware that runs on the cpu should remain in normal nonfree repo like other software.

Installing Debian on modern hardware

Posted Jan 21, 2021 21:47 UTC (Thu) by flussence (guest, #85566) [Link] (1 responses)

The CPU presumably gets special treatment because it's already “tainted” by the time the OS gets to run on it. In addition to that, nowadays we usually know what a given microcode update is for (i.e. it's accompanied by a logo and domain name). Most manufacturers don't even have the decency to say that their blobs changed, never mind why.

Installing Debian on modern hardware

Posted Jan 30, 2021 1:32 UTC (Sat) by immibis (subscriber, #105511) [Link]

Other way around. "CPU firmware" (i.e. drivers) is just software. Non-CPU firmware is something that the vendor would've just put in ROM, but they wanted to leave open the possibility of updates. And we seem to all have agreed that it's okay to have proprietary firmware in ROM - so surely "not ROM because updates" should be a very similar category?